Giulio Romano's Abbey Church at Polirone, Italy,
with its Traditional Enclosed Forecourt.
The Piazza Matilde di Canossa is in the foreground.
Photo: 10 March 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Zavijavah
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Sacristy.
Abbey Of San Benedetto, Polirone, Italy.
Text and Illustrations, unless stated otherwise,
are from: LITURGICAL ARTS JOURNAL
are from: LITURGICAL ARTS JOURNAL
This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,
Generally our Sacristy Tour Series is focused on the Contents of Sacristies — Vestments, Liturgical Metalwork, and so forth — but every once in a while it is the Sacristy, itself, that is noteworthy and that is certainly the case in this instance, the monumental Sacristy of The Abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone, Italy, designed by the 16th-Century Artist and Architect, Guilio Romano (1499-1546) — a student of Raphael.
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.
The Abbey was Founded in 1007 by Tedald, Count of Canossa, the paternal grandfather of Matilda of Canossa, Countess of Tuscany, with a grant to The Benedictine Monks, of land lying between The Rivers Po and Lirone, prompting the title "in Polirone".
Polirone was the Monastery most closely associated with his grand-daughter, Matilda, who granted estates and dependencies. Boniface III, Margrave of Tuscany made further grants and commissioned a larger Church, housing the remains of the Hermit, Simeon of Polirone († 1016).
In 1077, the Community passed into The Reformed Benedictines under The Abbey of Cluny. At the time of The Gregorian Reforms, the Abbot was one of the principal proponents of The Papacy in The Investiture Conflict.
From 1115 until 1632, the Abbey Church housed the Mausoleum, raised on eight Columns, housing the mortal remains of Matilda of Canossa, who had selected Polirone as her Memorial place, rather than the ancestral Mortuary Church of Canossa.
For Centuries, she was accorded almost the Veneration of a Founding Patron Saint at Polirone. Her body was Transferred to the Basilica of Saint Peter, Rome, in 1632.
Polirone was one of the richest Abbeys of Northern Italy. In the 15th-Century, Guido Gonzaga, Abbot "in commendam", rebuilt the Church in Late-Gothic Style. The Abbey Church was rebuilt, again, to Renaissance Style designs of Giulio Romano, in 1539-1544, but some floor mosaics and sculptural details survive from the earlier Church.
The walls and Vaults were extensively frescoed, by Antonio da Correggio and Antonio Begarelli, among others. Funding for reconstruction was posthumously granted by two main donors: Lucrezia Pico della Mirandola, sister of the humanist Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, greeted by the Monastic Community as a "new Matilda"; and Cesare d'Arsago.
The Abbey of San Benedetto,
Polirone, Italy.
Available on YouTube at
In 1797, the Abbey was Secularised by Napoleonic Rulers. Three Cloisters, the free-standing Great Refectory (1478–1479), the "new" Infirmary (1584), and The Abbey Church are still present, and open to visitors. The contents of the Library were added to The Library of Mantua.
